New vehicles and automobiles provide the capability for various communication and entertainment devices to be used along with the vehicles. For example, a mobile phone can be linked to the vehicle to allow a driver to send and receive phone calls in a hands-free manner. Additionally, integrated entertainment systems allow a passenger to view a movie or video, listen to music, etc., during a trip. These communication and entertainment devices generally employ short-range communication technologies in an RF frequency band or communication over wires plugged into the vehicle.
Visible light communication (VLC) provides the ability for machine to machine communication using light, or in other words, binary signals transmitted over a frequency of light. Such communications promises an increase in data transfer rates over conventional radio frequency wireless communication devices with faster data transfer rates expected in the future. As a result various mobile device manufacturers are considering including VLC modules in mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptop computers, etc., in order to allow these mobile devices to communicate using visible light communication signals. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a vehicle communication system that allows such VLC-enabled devices to communicate with the vehicle.